Location, Reception and Identity: Welsh Women's Writing in English, 2000 - Present Day

National Library of Wales, 11 March 2011

Keynote Speaker: Dr Katie Gramich, Cardiff University

Held jointly by the Centre for Women, Writing and Literary Culture, Aberystwyth, and the Association of Welsh Writing in English

This conference sought to ‘take stock’ of the state of Welsh women’s writing in the decade after devolution, and explore the ways in which the issues of Welsh identity and heritage, Welsh women’s writing and Welsh writing in English intersect. Combining creative and critical modes with the aim of establishing a ‘ground map’ of current trends in Welsh women’s writing, delegates looked back at the influence of twentieth century writers such as Kate Roberts, but also towards future trends.

The conference focused specifically on what contemporary Welsh women’s writing can tell us about post-devolution Welsh cultural identity; how is writing as a Welsh woman different from writing in the more established tradition of Welsh male writers? How has the establishment of a Welsh literary cultural industry, with Welsh and English-language publishing houses, shaped the field? How do global markets and other cultural institutions affect Welsh women writers?

Papers were invited but not limited to the following:

• Discerning and defining ‘Welsh’ as a distinct identity in contemporary women’s writing
• Continuities/discontinuities in Welsh women's writing from the mid/late 20thC to the present day
• Originality and innovation in Welsh women’s writing (thematic and formal)
• The impact of global markets and cultural institutions on the contemporary Welsh writer
• Hiraeth
• Practitioners as critics

Conference organiser: Dr Natasha Alden (Aberystwyth University, UK)